Group teaches it’s hip to be square (dancing)

Ever wanted to “do-si-do”? A group of Grant County residents spent Monday night swinging their partners at the first of the now weekly gatherings of the Silver City Squares square dancing club. The gatherings, which take place at the First Presbyterian Church on Swan Street, are a way to spread the word about the club and maybe get some exercise as well.

After spinning around the floor to instructions from a caller, square dancing partners Camille Painter-Davis and Michael Tais expressed the fun they were having on their first night.

“It’s been great so far,” Tais said during a break.

“I haven’t done this since high school,” Painter-Davis added.

While the lessons are new, the Silver City Squares have been around for years, traveling all over the Southwest dancing at events with other clubs, where club member Ron Henderson said they have made friends with dancers from other places who they run into time after time.

“The social aspect is big,” Henderson said. “A lot of us have been doing this for years. It’s good to get others into it.”

It may be good for the beginners as well. Henderson and caller and member Don Trammell said the sport is good for the mind and the body.

“Each tip is the equivalent to walking a quarter of a mile. It adds up. Each night is about four miles. People forget you need to exercise this, too, though,” Henderson said, pointing to his head.

“Really. Your mind is working all the time with this,” Trammell agreed. “Each tip is a brand-new thing.”

The gatherings will take place every Monday, beginning at 6 p.m. The first three lessons are free, and after that they are only $2 each.

The Squares will offer the lessons through next spring, in order to teach early beginners the nearly 60 steps included in just the basics of square dancing.

—BENJAMIN FISHER

(Press Staff Photo by Benjamin Fisher)Beginners dance at one of the Silver City Squares’ now weekly square dancing instructional gatherings held Monday night.